


The Fall of the Firehawk

by Lost_Elf



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: (background) Dark Rhys, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Begging for life, Canon-Typical Violence, Defamation, Handsome Jack AI - Freeform, Hyperion CEO Rhys, Kill Lilith, Public Humiliation, Random - Freeform, Tags Are Hard, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23434180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Elf/pseuds/Lost_Elf
Summary: Set in a mixed-up AU where Rhys becomes the CEO of Hyperion, Jack remains an AI, but also the Lilith DLC partially happened, and part of BL3 happened. The setting is not really important, tbh.Prompt:Lilith gets a  disease thats incurable on pandora, but Helios has a potential cure -  and she is FORCED to ask Jack for it, giving him the chance to test it. He laughs
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	The Fall of the Firehawk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NympheSama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NympheSama/gifts).



> Written for a prompt by the amazing [Nymphe!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NympheSama/pseuds/NympheSama) Go check out her work. :)
> 
> This was... fun, I'd say? I... No, I don't really have anything to say to defend myself. I'm team When Choosing Between Killing Jack And Letting Lilith Do It, I Shot Her In The Head And Then Became Sad. And yeah, I'm sorry if this is crap. I TRIED.

By his standards, it was morning, and morning is the best time to talk about serious matters like this one. Mordecai stretches and slowly stands up, making sure no trace of hungover made it past ten hours of sleep, and then he heads to Tannis’ lab. The place makes him uncomfortable in many ways – he’s more into open spaces, being that kind of guy who gets cabin fever after spending fifteen minutes on a football stadium – but he notices that it gets easier already.

Talon makes a displeased sound when he enters. Refusing to leave the Commander’s side, the bird hadn’t left the lab last night, and that was probably why Mordecai managed to drink so much without feeling guilty.

A second before stepping into view, he stops, turning to Brick who looks awfully big on the small chair he occupies. “Did she come to her senses yet?”

“Sadly, no,” the giant sighs.

“I’m right here with you, guys!” the Siren snaps. “I’m turning to rock, not deaf!”

“Maybe not deaf, but definitely stupid.” Talon makes a sound of approval, and Mordecai smirks. “And I’ll keep saying it until you change your mind, or the disease makes your ears fall off. Then, I’ll be writing it.” He makes the final step and his eyes fall upon the patient.

Lilith sounded much better than she should. Overnight, the disease spread all over her right arm. Most of her body was already covered in hardened, rock-like skin. Soon, the disease would enter stage two, turning muscle to rock and bones to gemstones, creating a statue that’s only beautiful on the inside. There is no cure, not on Pandora, not on any other planet. Only one company managed to find the miraculous formula that would stop and slowly undo the damage. Hyperion.

“Lilith,” the hunter begins with a sigh, “please, at—”

“No!” He’s instantly interrupted, not that he remembers his prepared speech anyway. They tried to have this conversation so many times, but Lilith is having none of it. “Don’t you see how stupid of a trap that is?! Why do you still—”

“So what if it’s a trap?! You’re dying anyway!”

They exchange a long, heated look full of disdain, before Lilith looks away. She crosses her arms on her chest, almost like she is pouting. After taking a few deep breaths, she shudders. The room is so quiet that the Vault Hunters can hear her rocky skin scraping and peeling, falling down in a cloud of dust, never to be replaced.

“I’m scared,” she admits, voice so low they almost can’t hear it. “This… This isn’t even about pride anymore. I’m scared about what he’ll do to me. What if he only wants to help so he can hook me up to Eridium and use my powers again? Or something worse. And the CEO, he… I don’t want to have anything to do with that weird kid…”

Before Mordecai can, Brick speaks up. “Fear is alright, Lil. But the situations you are afraid of – that’s what _we_ are here for. We won’t let him hurt you.”

“That’s right,” the hunter nods. “You always have us to save your ass.”

Talon cries out loud, almost deafening those who are not used to it.

“A— Alright. Call him.”

* * *

It took more persuading, but as Tannis insisted that they are running out of time, Lilith accepted all of Handsome Jack’s terms. They got crazier with time, as he kept coming up with them, and yes, in retrospect, she should have accepted long ago, when the only thing needed from her was going to Helios and signing a paper.

It was obvious from the beginning that Jack wants to humiliate her. After escaping death, crawling out of the grave she personally sent him to, regaining his position in Hyperion by becoming the co-CEO, he considered their fight over. The only thing left to do was defaming the corpse of the has-been revolution.

The ride to Helios was a show of Lilith standing in the middle of the shuttle, twelve guns trained on her at all times. Sure, that wouldn’t be a problem to handle, but she couldn’t. She had to endure this, ignoring all the drones that took pictures of the famous Firehawk surrounded by Hyperions and not fighting.

When they arrived, she was forced to strip off her gear. Shame made her blood boil as she put on a simple yellow uniform, probably one meant for prisoners. Just a plain t-shirt and pants, both revealing a lot of her rocky skin, because the clothes were too big, and the shirt hanged off her shoulder.

Barefoot, with a battalion of troops in front of and behind her, she was slowly, oh so slowly, led through the halls and corridors of Helios. Every single maniac on the fucking space station wanted to take a look at the defeated, dying Siren. They sneered, laughed, threw objects that didn’t hit her, because she was under Handsome Jack’s protection. She would take being hit by a cup of stale coffee over being protected by turrets controlled by the once fallen CEO anytime.

When the endless walk is finally over, the worst is only just beginning. Handsome Jack’s office is big and obnoxious. The worst part are the statues, everywhere, showing that ugly face. And as if the statues aren’t enough, there are the screens.

“Hey there, pumpkin!” Jack smirks down at her from every direction.

Collecting all that was left of her pride, Lilith managed to ignore him. She looked straight ahead, at the young CEO, determined to only talk to him, if there was even the slightest chance that she’ll get away with it.

“Mr Strongfork, it’s nice to meet you,” she greets politely. Her voice is hardly nice or polite, but she tried, for the sake of Mordecai, Brick, Patricia, Ellie, Moxxi and Tina down there, waiting for a signal that she needs help.

“Wh— Me? I mean, yeah, me, sure. Nice to meet you too.” Not only did he look like a boy, he sounded like one too. The CEO of Hyperion, feared by his employees and friends. What a clown!

“Awwwww, don’t be like that, Lil!” Jack jeered at her. “You are going to ignore _me?!_ Your old pal? After all we’ve been through?”

It took all of her self-control not to remind him of Angel’s death. It would surely sting a lot, if the AI could feel emotions, but it wouldn’t help her situation. “Jack,” she acknowledges him through gritted teeth.

“That’s my name! Glad to see your brain isn’t damaged yet. Though, I doubt there ever was anything but a few pebbles…”

The CEO _giggled_ , and the AI shot him a stern look before carrying on with the taunting. “I believe we agreed on some terms, right? My part was providing the cure, which is the shiny thing on Rhysie’s desk. Your part… Could you please refresh my memory? I don’t seem to remember…”

The Siren grit her teeth, fists balling at her sides. She could kill the CEO, steal the cure and destroy the whole station. Except Jack was probably more than ready for any of her pathetic attempts. Playing his game was the best she could do.

“I’ll wear the collar, say _Hyperion makes the best_ on camera, sign a manifesto you wrote, and then I’ll _crawl at your digital feet and beg for the cure_ ,” she recites, feeling her face turn red. “Unless you want to change your terms _again_ ,” she adds with a bark.

“Yeah, no, don’t worry. This promises us plenty of fun. Let’s do this!” The AI clasps his hands, and then he appears as a hologram next to Strongfork. He beckons Lilith to come closer, and so she slowly walks up the stairs to the desk. The cure is right there, a purplish liquid in a big syringe. And right next to it is the collar. She could—

The Siren yelps as needles bore into the skin of her neck, her powers turning from a raging fire in her veins to a distant trail of smoke, silenced by the technology. Her hands automatically shoot up, but no matter how hard she claws at the thing, it doesn’t budge, gripping her neck.

In her panic, she almost doesn’t remember to ask how the hell did the CEO get behind her when he was sitting sprawled in his yellow throne just a second ago. Rhys’ look of smugness looks like it was taken from Jack’s face and screwed onto his. His soft cheeks and eyes don’t deserve to bear such expression. But she won’t be fooled no more, no. He might be a puppet, but he is not a kid. Rhys and Jack both watch her figure it all out. There are two dangerous maniacs in the room.

Forcing her breathing down and scolding herself for not paying attention enough, Lilith looks up at the hologram with as little hatred as she can. “Now what?” she asks.

“Now? Did you already forget? Pebble brain not catching up?” the AI coos. “Now you look at the camera and say your line.” On cue, a camera drone descends from the ceiling.

Breath in, breath out. Forget that each breath feels like drowning when powers are so far out of reach. Remain calm. Breath in. “Hyperion makes the best,” she forces.

“Aww, none of that pouty glare,” Jack frowns. “That’s something only Rhysie can pull off. Get some _enthusiasm_ into it, Lilith!”

Breath in, don’t try to set the hologram on fire, breath out. Breath in, remember how it felt breaking through the force of the collar to save the Vault Hunters, breath out. Breath in. “Hyperion makes the _best_.”

Of course, she is forced to say it at least twenty more times, each barely better than the previous one. Jack is testing her. Everybody knows how hot-headed Lilith is; he wants to make sure she isn’t planning on breaking the collar. Or, he is just playing with her. Either way, she’ll kill him for this, and then kill him again. She swears that she won’t stop until he is gone for good.

The Siren doesn’t read the manifesto she’s signing. For all she cares, Jack could have put anything in there. It would probably just make her angry, make it harder. She just wants to be over with it, see what kind of trap Jack has ready and escape it. Preferably kill him on the way.

“Now comes the best part, oh my God, now comes the— Oh, I’m _so_ excited, Rhysie! Are you excited?” Jack’s AI is _giddy_ , pacing and jumping. Ridiculous, as always.

“Yes, Jack, I’m very excited for the show,” Rhys answers, face keeping his smug smirk, a dark glint to his eyes. How could Lilith ever think he might not be crazy, she doesn’t know.

“Come on, Lilith!” Jack cheers her on. “It’s not hard, trust me. You’re young, your knees probably won’t even hurt!”

That’s… actually a good thing to focus on. Not the implications. Just the fact that in the end of the day, it’s just a gesture. A few stains on her borrowed clothes.

Looking the hologram in the eyes, giving him a defiant look to let him know that he _didn’t_ fucking break her, that she’s just… desperate, she sinks to her knees. Her voice is filled with disdain and hate as she says the words she doesn’t mean. “Handsome Jack, former president of Hyperion…” she shuffles forward slowly, buying herself time to gather the will to say the rest, “most sexy, awesome, genius and rich man in the galaxy, I beg you, on my knees, to give me the cure I need. I regret killing you, and I assure everyone that it was only an act of jealousy, an idea of my bandit brain. Handsome Jack is the king. Long live the king.”

Tears of shame burn in her eyes. The speech is ridiculous, everybody will see that she was forced to say it. Still, it feels like an absolute betrayal. Because it _is_ betrayal. But she’s doing it _for her people!_ “Please, Jack,” she adds. “My people need me. Give me the cure and let me go, and Sanctuary will not be a problem to you any longer.”

There is silence. The Siren counts ten seconds filled with uncertainty. The AI’s face is unreadable. Then, he coos. “Aww! Now, that was moving! Wasn’t it moving, Rhysie?”

The CEO only shrugs, looking bored. Then, Jack chuckles.

One chuckle is replaced by another, then some more. Soon, he is laughing hard, clutching his holographic belly and wiping non-existent tears from his eyes. “A-HAHAHAHA! Oh, God! My— Oh, my God! How can you bandits be _so stupid_?!” He waves his hand towards the desk and Lilith turns just in time to see the syringe flicker and disappear. At least the CEO looks shocked.

“You didn’t know?” she asks dumbly, not sure what to do anymore. This was their only hope. Sanctuary will lose its leader and its Firehawk. They will lose.

“Nope,” the man shrugs. “But at least I’m not bored anymore.” He straightens in the chair, leaning his chin in his shiny silver cybernetic hand, watching.

Lilith turns back to Jack, somehow still believing that this situation will end differently than what you would expect. But the former CEO is lost in his fit of laughter, not paying her any attention. Until he is.

As if he was suddenly replaced by a different program, Jack stops laughing and stands straight, looming over the Siren. His expression is cold, one of a killer.

“You killed my baby girl, Lilith,” he says sweetly, voice not fitting the face. “Did you really think I would let you live? Bye-bye, child-murderer.”

Bullets rain from every direction, but Lilith doesn’t feel any pain. It’s like the world is giving her a chance to realise with a clear mind that she’s been played like damn fiddle. She can’t focus on anything else, not the wounds, not fear, not her people and friends that she is leaving behind. Handsome Jack won. And she will die here, kneeling by his feet, ears filled with his obnoxious laughter and Rhys’ stupid giggle.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me ona [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ElfWriting). ^.^


End file.
